October 2018 – by Florica Chirică-Bordei from the National Administration of Penitentiaries, Romania
The Romanian National Administration of Penitentiaries is a partner in the project ‘The prevention of juvenile radicalisation: Promoting the use of alternatives to detention through judicial training’ (PRALT), funded by the European Commission through the program Action Grants.
The PRALT project, which runs between 2016 and 2018, is implemented by IJJO Belgium (Applicant), in partnership with the Ministry of Justice Germany, Judicial Protection at the Jeunesse Court – Ministry of Justice France, Fundación Diagrama Spain, Romanian National Administration of Penitentiaries and Associate Partners: International Association of Youth Judges and Magistrates Belgia, The Violence Prevention Network Germania, Ombudsman Delegue general aux Droits de l’enfant — Belgia.
In the current context, the issue of radicalisation and countering violent extremism has increasingly becoming a priority for every member state of the European Union, the quickening pace of this phenomenon confirms that repressive measures are no longer sufficient and that a new strategy based on prevention needs to be adopted.
The activities proposed in the project ‘The prevention of juvenile radicalisation: Promoting the use of alternatives to detention through judicial training’ and, in particular, in the training programme, aim to formulate best practices on juvenile prisoners (radicalised or at risk of radicalisation) to develop strategies to prevent radicalisation and will focus primarily on judicial and judicial staff: judges, prosecutors and judicial officers, as well as other practitioners and actors involved in the justice system: lawyers, probation officers, educators, mediators and policymakers, being the most susceptible of group to benefiting of, and implementing, knowledge and best practices shared and learnt through the project.
The overall objective of this project is to train judges, politicians and practitioners, to exchange views on effective interventions, management and enforcement practices on the prevention of radicalisation in detention and to develop effective programs of de-radicalisation for young people in the states members of the EU.
The project will be focused on the three following themes:
- The prevention of radicalisation in detention.
- Tertiary prevention and reinsertion.
- De-radicalisation processes through alternatives to detention, including community and family based approaches to de-radicalisation
The knowledge gained during the activities of this project will contribute to the development of a Training Manual for the prevention of radicalisation and the promotion of alternative measures, translated into 5 languages (French, English, Romanian, Spanish, Dutch), to be disseminated by experts workshops organized at national level (including Romania).
More details about the PRALT project can be found here.
